Based in the Flinders Medical Centre, Carlie works in the Proteins in Metabolim and Cancer Laboratory with Professor Briony Forbes. She has worked with Briony for 20 years, and they’ve worked together at Flinders since 2013.

Carlie’s day-to-day role includes developing new assays, getting projects up and running in the lab, supervising placement and Honours students in the lab, helping PhD students, training on equipment and, in her words, being the person who needs to know where everything is!

What is your professional background? I did a Bachelor of Science and Honours based in a similar field to what I’m currently researching.

What led you to a professional research staff career? Was there a seminal moment? Initially I wanted to do Medicine while at high school and started by completing a Science degree. This led to an opportunity to do a year of research (Honours) in a lab that was doing research in a field I had great interest in – diabetes! Being a type 1 diabetic my whole life, I feel grateful I get to be part of the future of diabetes research and treatments.

Who inspires you? I am constantly being inspired by the people around me. Our regular seminars showcase the fantastic research that others are doing here at Flinders and around Australia.

Do you have a mentor? Yes! And this is a really valuable relationship. I have been able to gain insights regarding directions that I could take to progress my research career. It’s nice to be able to chat with someone who can see things in a different light and also has experience in this role and so understands the insecurities and uncertainties relating to academic research and the dependence of RA positions on grant funding.

What piece of advice would you give to aspiring professional research staff? Find an area that you have a real keen interest in.  I enjoy doing this work as there is always multiple projects happening at the same time so there is always something new keeping me busy.

What is something about yourself others may not know? I have coached 6-9 year olds in netball for several years now. It’s fantastic to watch them develop their skills individually and then come together to achieve things as a team that they work hard all season for.

What do you value most about working at Flinders? The people here at Flinders are very supportive and friendly.  I also like being based in the hospital actually – it gives a real connection and purpose to the research that we and others do.

What’s one thing you couldn’t live without? That first coffee of the day of course (plus my daughter and husband!).